I was keen to read this book and I wasn’t disappointed. It is easy to read and fun.

There are sections on dressing up, sequels, prequels, spin offs, conspiracy theories (Austen was writing a secret code that only one person has discovered in the past 200 years) and Austen therapy.

Ms Yaffe travels the world getting involved in all sorts of austen activities and she does it all with an open mind. I think this is an illuminating picture of the current state of Austen fandom. I’m not likely to dress up and learn a country dance, but I did enjoy reading about it.

I think this would make a great documentary – I would quite like to watch the dress fittings and the dancing and listen to the interviews – Sandy Lerner and Arnie Perlstein seem fascinating.